


Awakened

by Frostdraga



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:16:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27696137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frostdraga/pseuds/Frostdraga
Summary: Akalai dies.She dies on the hot, sandy battlefields of Kourna, her trusty pistol falling from her suddenly numb grasp. A lucky shot – a damn lucky shot from one of those damned Awakened, with their foul magic that sucked her energy from her limbs, before cutting her down as though she were a weed. A blade, stabbing through her back.
Kudos: 1





	Awakened

**Author's Note:**

> Previously posted on Tumblr on Oct 25th, 2019, with minimal editing done since. 
> 
> If you're interested in my writing/characters, I've recently started up a GW2 writing blog (frosty-the-dragon(dot)tumblr(dot)com) where you can check out all my OCs and any writing I may do in the future. 
> 
> For @tyrias-library‘s 2019 Body Horror prompt but I derailed almost immediately so it’s less body horror and more just about my charr.

…

Akalai dies.

She dies on the hot, sandy battlefields of Kourna, her trusty pistol falling from her suddenly numb grasp. A lucky shot – a damn lucky shot from one of those damned Awakened, with their foul magic that sucked her energy from her limbs, before cutting her down as though she were a weed. A blade, stabbing through her back. 

Even as she staggers and falls, she faintly registers her new brother and sisters – the Olmakhan, crying out in rage, as they are slowly beaten back, back towards the vine walls. She’s only thankful that she doesn’t feel the scarab swarm settle on her as her lifeblood drains into the sands. Thankful that her new ‘band escapes to fight another day, to lose the fight but to win the war. She hopes that they tell her older sib’, the Commander, the Demon of Death herself, that she dies without regrets. She hopes - 

She dies.

.

But then, she wakes. She’s not quite sure what happened, but one minute there was a restful nothingness, and the next, she was sitting up, then standing at attention; a cog in a legion of Awakened. 

She thinks she should be disgusted, or angry, or even just confused; but, she feels none of that. A lethargic apathy soaks into her bones and her very soul - or what remains of it anyway. She remembers looking around idly, eyes roaming over the strange group they’ve put her in. Charr, asura, a few sylvari, humans. All freshly turned, it seemed. She catches the eyes of another Awakened charr – an Olmakhan, from the looks of his armor and horns. They blankly stare at each other for a long moment, dulled eyes meeting dulled eyes – and Akalai feels something niggling at the back of her mind.

The niggling is tamped down harshly by a stronger wave of apathy, and she and the male turn away wordlessly at the same time. 

They are awaiting deployment, she thinks. At least, that’s what the troop-marshal is saying. She doesn’t really know what she thinks anymore - the space between her ears is just filled with a numbing buzzing. He ends his speech with a loud, reverent “Praise Joko.” 

“Praise Joko,” the words slip out of her automatically, and is echoed by every other awakened in her troop. They break ranks, and she picks out her weapons from the heaped stack next to the door. Her hand hovers over a pistol for a long while, before coming to land on a sheathed sword and a chipped shield. She takes them, attaches them to herself, and wanders over to the closest wall, slumping down onto the floor against it. All around her, the rest of the awakened seemed to be in similar states of lethargy.

She doesn’t know how long they stay in that room, awaiting deployment, until she suddenly jolts awake from her dreamless doze. Her chest expands and constricts rapidly as though her mind has suddenly remembered that she used to breathe, and she doubles over, keening and roaring as a sharp pain sliced through her thoughts and senses. Then, as suddenly as it came, it was gone. 

She looks up, fangs bared instinctively, and somehow catches that same awakened charr’s eyes again. This time, she catches a spark of something in his eyes, one she hopes is brighter tenfold in her own. To her right, she watches as the troop-marshal yells something in panic. It had been a mistake to put all the awakened outlanders in the same room. 

She stands, drawing her sword and her shield, and hears the ringing of weapons being unsheathed, of pistols and rifles being loaded, feels the tingling rush of magic being conjured into reality. The lethargy is gone - her mind clearing as though a fog has been lifted. 

“You better tell us how to get out of this damn place,” she rasps out, baring her fangs, her leathery skin stretching into a mockery of a smile.


End file.
